Introductory Play
Narrator
Jesus
Mother
Narrator: [Jesus] set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice,2sbut a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
Mother: Please Jesus, my daughter has a demon in her. I left her at home in bed. But I know, even from a distance you can heal her. Please, I beg you as a mother, heal my daughter.
Jesus: Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.
Mother: Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. You fed thousands. You can do this one little thing for my tiny daughter.
Jesus: For saying that, you may go-the demon has left your daughter.
Narrator: So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Mark 7:24-37 Pentecost 16
Grace, Lakeland, FL,
September 8, 2024
There was a mother in Lebanon who was just worried sick, because her daughter was. Her daughter would have spells. It looked a lot like epilepsy. She took her beloved daughter to every doctor and crank healer she could find, but no healing.
It was as if her daughter had a demon that would not let her go. But, her mother would not give up. It seems a new kind of healer had come to town. Maybe he could do something.
So the mother found out where he was staying.
Now this was very dangerous for her, it could cost her her life.
She wasn't allowed to be on the streets except if she kept hidden and out of site. If she dare talked to certain people she could be arrested. This was what she was condemned to.
Her crime, she was a women in ancient Tyre. The only women who spoke to men on the streets were prostitutes, and of course, if someone wanted to, they could bring charges against the prostitute and have her stoned to death.
This women wasn't even allowed to speak freely at home. Husbands just didn't talk and share things with their wives.
Now, this woman, who, by the way, has no name, has a sick daughter, also without a name.
But, she loved her child and it was worth the risk, not only to find out where this healer was, but to go see him, a man!
So the mother barges into a private dinner party, and before she gets thrown out, she manages to find this Jesus and fall at his feet.
If they are to take her away, they have to force her to stand, interrupt the dinner guests and drag her out kicking and screaming. Then there is this, he is Jewish and she is not.
But, Jesus decides to talk to her!
She could get stoned for talking to a man, but she had come this far, and she wasn't going to quite.
She lays her case, Iiterally at his feet.
Then the very disappointing answer. "Let the children be fed first." Isn't this the guy that fed the 5,000 and didn't care who they were. Isn't this the guy who says he's the bread of life? Isn't this the guy, who it seems every other word is about Bread, Bread, Bread.c
And now, he won't share. He has become stingy. Who are the children who get the bread, the feeding, the healing first? They are the Jews.
Then why in the world come to Lebanon, Tyre, and tell how wonderful this bread is and not give any to this woman who has risked her life to ask for it.
This is not the Jesus we want to see. This is not the Jesus with all the kids on his lap. This is not the warm fuzzy Jesus. Who is this guy?
But, this women, has real courage. Instead of sulking away into oblivion she stubbornly holds her ground.
Ok, she is risking her life, she has made a spectacle out of herself, what more can she do?
She can make herself even less than a prostitute, she can become a dog. The most foul creature to live with humans. The scavenger animal, the one that gets kicked out and must wander to find a puddle for water to drink. A dog in this culture is not like our 2 spoiled poodles. These are wild curs, despicable, who eat crumbs and then get kicked and beaten. They are feral.
This women says she will be like a dog under the table if she can just get a speck, a crumb of this healing bread, not for herself, but for her child.
Jesus answered her by giving her what she desired, healing for her daughter. She had spoken up, and he had admired that.
This women rejoiced in the healing of her daughter, but now we are left with many questions.
Do we have to be a certain humble creature to get this bread this healing?
The clever debater, their God to do their bidding?Jesus wants to show others, through the humiliation of this women, what faith looks like?
Some commentaries say Jesus was grouchy because he was asked to heal while he was on vacation.
Some say he was grouchy because he remember how the ruler of this land had savagely killed a women and her 7 Jews1i6ns.
Others say this is how the Gospel writer put it. Some say that Jesus is testing her faith.
But in context of the Jesus story, we know that Jesus is about faith, about restoring what is broken, about being God on earth.
We know this is a story about a desperate human being, desperate not for herself, but for another.
We know this is a story about what God can and will do.
Yes, there are many questions, and the debate has been going on thousands of years over this text, but God is God.
And Jesus the Son of the God, the 2nd part of the trinity, is a real human dealing with real people, real political situations, real time and real history.
And, in the midst of all of that God comes through. God is the God of healing. A God in human form that is real for real people in real situations.
God is a God of grace and a God of healing. Jesus after this finally gives his very life for the Jews and the Gentiles. In our words of Holy Communion it says it best. On the cross he opens his arms to all.
And, that is the bigger picture, the biggest point of the whole Jesus story. Jesus is the God of salvation.
This healed daughter, in the course of her life, will finally die, but in Jesus, death is not the end.
Death is the gate to eternal healing and eternal life. It is true that this conversation makes us think and consider our lives and how we approach Jesus and what Jesus wants from us.
It is a story of interaction of faith and culture. It is a story of an ancient time and our time.
It is a story of the endless love of Jesus for all people for all time.
So why this particular story gives us pause to think and consider, we can only come to the conclusion that God through Jesus is a God of healing, and God with all people everywhere.
We give thanks for this Jesus of healing and history that listens to all people everywhere. This Jesus of love and life who is the God for all time is our God too.
For his grace and love to all people we give him thanks. Amen.
